Mr. Mark O'Connor:

I understand that 51.5% of respondents said they had noticed some or significant regression in their child's educational and personal skills development. There is potential in terms of special education teaching hours. It is welcome that the Department has provided extra resources for the substitute panel. However, we are coming into the winter season. Teachers would ordinarily go to work with a sniffle or a cold. At the moment, however, when they have any signs of anything that could resemble Covid-19, they have been told to stay at home, and rightly so. That will put significant pressure on the substitute panel. When no one is available on that panel, special education teachers will be called in and away from their primary duty of supporting young people with disabilities. We would like the Minister to put some additional resources into substitute panels.

In terms of SNAs, there will be direct substitution. We are still worried about SNAs going between a number of classes. If possible, schools could put forward cases to the Department for consideration on a case-by-case basis to ensure there is no possibility of cross-contamination.

Regarding class bubbles, anecdotal evidence indicates that parents have been told that they will pose difficulties in terms of in-class assessments by HSE and NEPS personnel. As my colleague indicated earlier, many HSE personnel have already been redeployed to contact tracing and testing.